Topic: JDeck's dioramas and displays.

[JDeck]

    I started making some forest litter to be spread over the dirt I made yesterday. Its made of mostly found materials, dried moss, twigs, leaves, bark and pebbles. Along with parsley flakes, and tea leaves. I think ill need quite a bit more.

[hemble]

I like where this is going JD and with that background and your dio this is going to be great.

Ron

[Tamer]

wow, that looks good too. Off to share again!

[JDeck]

I like where this is going JD and with that background and your dio this is going to be great.

Ron

   Thanks Ron! Im trying to figure out a backdrop for it. What I'm doing is a diorama within a bookcase shelf. Make the whole shelf a diorama. Meybe I'll either print out a photo or just paint it, or buy a poster.

[JDeck]

wow, that looks good too. Off to share again!

       Thanks Tamer! Yeah using natural products is the best, especially in this scale, it would work great for 6" too.  I actually found a redwood today and  grabbed up some fallen branches, so I'll add that to my mix as well.

[JDeck]

   This is my first attempt at a small lanky fir tree, for my Endor dio. First i took a dowel rod and carved it into a spear. Then I took a wire brush to it, to carve the bark. I cut some lengths of wire, longer on the bottom smaller at the top, and twisted them around the trunk. Then painted it brown followed by a black dry brush. Afterwards I applied some clump foliage to the wire armatures. Finally sprinkled static grass over the clump foliage, to give it the pine needle look. This is a good concept, I just need more practice. Ill definitely get practice, as I need a bunch of these.

[Tamer]

Wow, pretty sweet for your first attempt.

Off to share. I can't wait to see all this put together.

Thanks for taking the time to document your process and share your recipes.

[JDeck]

Wow, pretty sweet for your first attempt.

Off to share. I can't wait to see all this put together.

Thanks for taking the time to document your process and share your recipes.

Thanks Tamer! Pleasure is all mine. Every once in a while someone asks, how do you make a diorama. And I never know what to say, because there's infinite ways to build one. It just comes to which way works for the individual, based on experience and comfort level. I figure I'd show folks how I like to do things, meybe it'll spark an idea of their own.
   As for the trees, these, really are cool. You can buy commercially availible armatures, but they're cookie cutter trees, in other words, theyre all the same. And they're made for 1/86 scale, so they don't  always work in 1/18 or 1/12. With these you can make different trunk diameters,  or heights. You can make the branches any way you want. High, low, long, short, whatever.  So,  yeah it was a worth while experiment. Now I can put it into assembly line type production.
  Man I just came up with a great idea to make a big hollow tree.

[JDeck]

     This is my first attempt, or the beginning of a larger coniferous tree. For now ignore the limbs. The trunk I'm using a 1 inch diameter dowel rod. If you notice the texture on the bark, I achieved that by basically carving it with a serrated knife. Afterwards I gave it a good going over with a wire brush. Im not making the entire tree, just the bottom half.
      The limbs are some kind of preserved and dyed plant, similar to a Norfolk Island pine. I drilled some holes around the trunk and started jamming them in, just to see how it looks. I think I'll try a different approach. Possibly using small dowels for branches and glue the limbs to that. I dunno, I still need to drill more holes and paint the trunk.

[hemble]

The small tree looks great but I have to say that I am really looking forward to seeing how the larger tree turns out.

Ron

[Tamer]

Great start to the larger tree. Time for a front page update methinks.

[JDeck]

The small tree looks great but I have to say that I am really looking forward to seeing how the larger tree turns out.

Ron

   Thanks Ron! Yeah the small trees are just filler, these larger ones will direct more attention. I worked on the one more today, its more or less finished. I used a whole package of those branches, and I only did one side, but thats all you'll see anyway.

[JDeck]

Great start to the larger tree. Time for a front page update methinks.

   Thanks Tamer! This project is going to take much longer than I thought. Once I get  all the trees finished, the groundwork should be easy. I want to depict them doing Ewok stuff, hunting, trapping, hang gliding, gathering, ect. I hope I have room for the catapult too. I may do some smaller separate  dioramas, if I cant get it all in one. Or I could just change up the diorama every once in a while, the figures won't be fixed.

[hemble]

Yeah I see where you are going with the tree's and the first one looks excellent.

Ron

[Tamer]

Looks fun to me. Off to share the latest.